The GOP’s Health Care Plan: Repeal the Affordable Care Act

Monday, December 9, 2013

Republican leaders from Ted Cruz to John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio have come together unanimously behind a single healthcare plan: repeal the Affordable Care Act and bring back the old system where insurance companies ran the show. That’s it — their entire plan for fixing the old broken healthcare system, is to go back to the old broken healthcare system.

While Democrats are unified behind a desire to strengthen the law and expand access to affordable healthcare, Republicans want to go in the opposite direction. Since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, Republicans have voted to gut or repeal the law nearly 50 times and they’re not letting up now. Never mind that fewer than two in five Americans support the GOP’s “scrap, not fix” plan.

Republicans were even willing to shut down the government to accomplish that, delivering a $24 billion hit to the economy. Some Republicans are ready to do it all again – one Congressman recently called the shutdown “justified,” and Ted Cruz said it was “absolutely” worth it.

But what exactly would they be scrapping if they repealed the ACA? Here’s a guide to the cost of the GOP plan – you be the judge:

Under the GOP Healthcare Plan of repealing the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies would be put back in the driver’s seat, allowing them to:

Kick kids off their family healthcare plans;

Drop consumers for having a pre-existing conditions;

Refuse to cover preventive care for those with plans;

Charge women more than men for similar coverage;

Cancel coverage just for getting sick;

Insurance companies could even overcharge consumers just to boost their profits;

And so much more

And on top of it, repealing the Affordable Care Act would cost taxpayers $109 billion. That’s in addition to the $24 billion the GOP’s government shutdown cost the economy earlier this year.

And here are a few numbers on how the GOP plan would impact consumers who are already benefiting from Obamacare:

Approximately 105 million Americans could pay more for preventive care, including nearly 47 million women.

105 million Americans could be subject to lifetime caps.

Up to 17 million children with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage or charged more.

More than 7.1 million seniors and people with disabilities who reached the donut hole would have to spend billions more on their prescription drugs.

Up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions could be charged more, or denied coverage, which is prohibited beginning in 2014. In total, an estimated 43 percent of people with individual market insurance have a pre-existing condition.

Check back here for regular updates on how much The GOP Healthcare Plan will cost you.